Xuanfeng: Whirlwind Catapult?

[Louis Swaim]

Greetings,

In Yang Chengfu’s Essence and Applications book, the form narrative for “Turn Body Sweep Lotus” includes a reference to “whirlwind force” (xuanfeng shi) in describing the swift rotation of the body resulting in the horizontal leg kick. I was doing some internet searching today, and discovered some references to early Chinese warfare technology. Evidently, there was a very early style of traction catapult named “xuanfeng”—a whirlwind catapult. This brings up the possibility that the “xuanfeng shi” in the Sweep Lotus description actually means something like, “employ the power of a catapult.” For me, the generic imagery of a whirlwind is already quite powerful as a description of the body’s rotation, but the catapult imagery is also very evocative when you think of the kick as a release of the built-up power of the body’s rotation.

Take care,
Louis

[Louis Swaim]

Here's a link to research on the xuanfeng catapult, and Chinese catapults in general, by a fellow named Liang Jieming.

http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/lofive ... t4852.html

--Louis